The Four Wives of Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein; Credit – Wikipedia

Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein, who reigned 1721-1732, had four wives.

  • Princess Maria Gabriele of Liechtenstein (1692 – 1713) – third cousin and 1st wife of Josef Johann Adam, had one son who died in childhood
  • Countess Marianne of Thun-Hohenstein (1698 – 1716) – 2nd wife of Josef Johann Adam, died twenty days after the wedding
  • Countess Maria Anna Katharina of Oettingen-Spielberg (1693 – 1729) – 3rd wife of Josef Johann Adam, had five children but only two survived childhood including Johann Nepomuk Karl, Prince of Liechtenstein, Josef Johann Adam’s successor
  • Countess Maria Anna Kottulinska von Kottulin (1707 – 1788) – 4th wife of Josef Johann Adam, had two children who died in childhood

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Princess Maria Gabriele of Liechtenstein was the third cousin of Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein. Born on July 12, 1692, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria, she was the seventh of the eleven children and the fourth of the seven daughters of Hans-Adam I, the sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein who reigned 1684 – 1712 and his first cousin Princess Erdmuthe Maria Theresia of Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg. Maria Gabriele’s paternal grandparents were Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein and Johanna Beatrix of Dietrichstein. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand Joseph, 3rd Prince of Dietrichstein and Princess Marie Elisabeth of Eggenberg.

Maria Gabriele had ten siblings:

  • A son (born and died 1682)
  • Princess Maria Elisabeth of Liechtenstein (1683 – 1744), Leopold, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Wiesenburg, had five children
  • Karl Josef Wenzel, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein (1684 – 1704), died at age 20
  • Princess Maria Antonia of Liechtenstein (1687 – 1750), married (1) Markus Anton Adam, Count Czobor de Czoborszentmihály, had two children (2) Karl, Count Hrzán of Harras
  • Princess Maria Anna of Liechtenstein (1687 – 1750)
  • Franz Dominik, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein (1689 – 1711), died at age 22
  • Princess Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein (1694 – 1772), married Emmanuele Tomasso of Savoy-Carignano, Count of Soissons, had one son
  • Princess Maria Margaretha of Liechtenstein (1697 – 1702), died in childhood
  • Princess Maria Dominika of Liechtenstein (1698 – 1724), married Heinrich Joseph Johann, Prince of Auersperg, had three children
  • Prince Johann Baptist of Liechtenstein (born and died 1700)

On December 1, 1712, in Vienna, twenty-year-old Maria Gabriele married twenty-two-year-old Josef Johann Adam, who became the sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein in 1721, after Maria Gabriele’s death. Sadly, after only eleven months of marriage, Maria Gabriele, aged twenty-one, died due to childbirth complications on November 7, 1713, while giving birth to her only child Prince Karl Anton of Liechtenstein who died in 1715. She was buried in the Old Crypt at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic.

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Born on November 27, 1698, Countess Marianne von Thun-Hohenstein was the only child of Johann Maximilian, Count von Thun-Hohenstein and Countess Maria Theresia Countess of Sternberg. On February 3, 1716, seventeen-year-old Marianne married the widowed Prince Josef Johann Adam. The marriage did not even last a month. Three weeks after the marriage, on February 23, 1716, Marianne died in Vienna and was buried in the Old Crypt at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic.

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Maria Anna Katharina of Oettingen-Spielberg; Credit – Wikipedia

Countess Maria Anna Katharina of Oettingen-Spielberg was born on September 21, 1693 in Vienna. She was the eldest of seven children and the eldest of the five daughters of Count Franz Albrecht zu Oettingen-Spielberg and Johanna Margaretha von Schwendt.

Maria Anna had six younger siblings:

  • Maria Josepha von Oettingen-Spielberg (1694 – 1738), married Herman Frederik, Count von Hohenzollern-Hechingen, had twelve children
  • Marie Friederike von Oettingen-Spielberg (1699 – 1759), married Karl Seyfried, Count von Königsegg-Aulendorf, had three children
  • Maria Franziska Luise von Oettingen-Spielberg (1703 – ?), married Joseph Franz von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, had one son
  • Johann Aloys von Oettingen-Spielberg (1707 – 1780), married Theresia Maria Anna von Holstein-Sonderburg, had three children
  • Anton Ernst von Oettingen-Spielberg (1712 – 1768), married Maria Theresia von Waldburg zu Trauchburg, had eleven children
  • Maria Gertrud von Oettingen-Spielberg (1714 – 1777), married Joseph Maria Wilczek, Baron von Hultschin und Gutenland, had eleven children

On August 3, 1716, in Vienna, Maria Anna married Josef Johann Adam. During his marriage to Maria Anna, on October 11, 1721,  Josef Johann Adam became the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein.

Josef Johann Adam and Maria Anna had five children:

  • Princess Maria Eleonore (1717 – 1718), died in infancy
    Prince Joseph Anton of Liechtenstein (1720 – 1723), died in childhood
  • Princess Maria Theresia of Liechtenstein (1721 – 1753), married Joseph I Adam, 4th Prince of Schwarzenberg, had nine children
  • Johann Nepomuk Karl, Prince of Liechtenstein (1724 – 1748), married Maria Josepha, Countess of Harrach-Rohrau, had three children
  • Princess Maria Elisabeth Eleonore (born and died 1728), died on the day of her birth

Maria Anna died on April 15, 1729, at the age of 35, and was buried at the Parish Church of St. Nicholas at Glogów, in Silesia, now in Poland. The church was destroyed in 1945 and the tomb was not preserved.

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Born on May 12, 1707, Countess Maria Anna Kottulinska von Kottulin was the second of the six children and the second of the four daughters of Franz Karl Kottulinsky, Baron von Kottulin and Krzizkowitz and Countess Maria Antonia von Rottal.

Maria Anna had older siblings:

  • Maria Josepha Kottulinsky von Kottulin (1709 – 1752), a Carmelite nun in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic
  • Anna Maria Theresie Kottulinsky von Kottulin (1711 – 1798), married (1) Johann Carl von Chotek, had one son (2) Joseph de Broune, Count von Hautois, no children
  • Count Franz Karl Kottulinsky von Kottulin und Kržizkowitz, Baron auf Krzischkowitz (1712 – 1772), married (1) Maria Theresia von und zu Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg, had one son (2) Marie Eleonore von Mansfeld, had two children
  • Maria Angelica Kottulinsky von Kottulin (1714 – 1786), married Johann Joseph David Graf von Lodron zu Fürth, no children
  • Maria Antonia Constance Kottulinsky von Kotulina (1715 -1787), married Johann Maria Graf von Wilczek, had three children
  • Johann Christoph Kottulinsky von Kotulin und Kržizkowitz (1718 – ?)

Maria Anna and Josef Johann Adam were married on August 22, 1729, in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. They had two children who died in infancy:

  • Prince Anton Thomas of Liechtenstein (1730 – 1731)
  • Princess Maria Anna of Liechtenstein (1733 – 1734), born after her father’s death, died in infancy

Josef Johann Adam died, aged 42, on December 17, 1732, in Valtice, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, and was buried in the Old Crypt at Chuch of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. After Josef Johann Adam died in 1732, Maria Anna married Count Ludwig Ferdinand von Schulenburg-Oeynhausen. Maria Anna, aged 80, died on February 6, 1788, in Vienna, Austria. She was buried at the Mariabrunn Pilgrimage Church (link in German) in Vienna, Austria but her tomb has not been preserved.

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Works Cited

  • Anna Katharina Reichsgräfin zu Oettingen-Spielberg, Fürstin V. U. Z. Liechtenstein (2018) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Anna-Katharina-Reichsgr%C3%A4fin-zu-Oettingen-Spielberg-F%C3%BCrstin-v-u-z-Liechtenstein/6000000017244058524 (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Century: 18th century. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://fuerstenhaus.li/en/die-biographien-aller-fuersten/18-century/
  • Flantzer, S. (2021) Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/josef-johann-adam-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2021) Karl Eusebius, Prince of Liechtenstein, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/karl-eusebius-prince-of-liechtenstein/ (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Gabriele von Liechtenstein (2021) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_von_Liechtenstein (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Gabriela Z lichtenštejna (2022) Wikipedia (Czech). Available at: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriela_z_Lichten%C5%A1tejna (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Maria Anna (Marianna*) Gräfin von Schulenburg-Oeynhausen (2018) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Maria-Anna-Marianna-Gr%C3%A4fin-von-Schulenburg-Oeynhausen/6000000016223167180 (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Maria Anna von Kottulinsky (2021) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_von_Kottulinsky (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Maria Anna von Oettingen-Spielberg (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_von_Oettingen-Spielberg (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Maria Anna von Thun und Hohenstein (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_von_Thun_und_Hohenstein (Accessed: 28 June 2023).
  • Marie Anna Z Thun-Hohensteinu (2022) Wikipedia (Czech). Available at: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Anna_z_Thun-Hohensteinu (Accessed: 28 June 2023).